


Finding the Truth

by AnkouRavien



Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-05 14:18:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14620455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnkouRavien/pseuds/AnkouRavien
Summary: Ara, Elesis, and Ciel are graduated. They're always together since elementary school, but Elesis never introduced her brother to her friends because her parents told her not to interact with him and she doesn't know why. One day, her parents are going away and Elesis decided her brother to her friends. Not long after that, something unexpected happened. Something like... murder. AU





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is copied from fanfic net XD  
> You can find the complete one there

It's evening. The day they graduated had finally come.  _Time sure passed by quickly,_ they thought.

"I'm going to miss you all!" a black haired girl, Ara, hugged her friends.

"Me too!" a red haired girl, Elesis, also hugged her. Tears almost fell from their eyes.

"I'm so lucky!" a boy, Ciel, smiled in happiness. Which guy that didn't happy when he's hugged by 2 girls?

"Nobody's going to take care of brother! This is difficult!"

And this was his little sister, Lu. She's still in elementary school. There's a big difference between their ages, so these two looked so adorable together.

"Many people confessed to the one they like this day," Ara looked at Ciel, "What about you, Ciel? You don't want to confess?"

Ciel looked at them. "I have 2 beautiful girls with me," he patted Lu, "and a cute little sister."

Lu smiled as her cheeks turned red because of embarrassment. "I love you, big bro!"

"Aaaw~!"

Ara and Elesis can't handle Lu's cuteness.

Ara looked at school before they leave. "I'll miss school." Elesis nodded in agreement.

"Let's do something before we go home!"

"We can't. I have a plan with my family tonight."

"That's too bad."

Ara took out her cell phone. "Let's take a selfie!"

For the first time in their lives, they took a selfie.

"Hey, send it to me!"

"Patience! I'm sending it to you!"

_We've been together since elementary school, I take it around 10 years, but I never told them about my brother. I have my own reason and I don't want him to have more trouble,_  Elesis thought.  _I have to tell them._

"Guys, there's something I really want to tell you, but promise me you won't tell my parents."

Ara, Ciel, and Lu glanced at Elesis. "Is it something lewd?" Ara smirked.

"I have a brother."

Their eyes widened. It's like something unbelievable just heard.

Ara frowned. "Why you never tell us?"

"There are reasons."

Despite that somehow-unbelievable moment, Ciel calmed down. "Is he here now?"

Elesis shook her head. "I'll be here tomorrow to see him graduates. Will you guys come?"

They smiled at her. "You don't have to ask, Elesis!" Ciel gave a thumb-up.

"Thanks. I'm sure he'll be very happy to meet you guys!" Elesis smiled back to her friends, "We'll meet here 5 p.m., okay?"

"Do we have to wear formal clothes again?"

"Of course!"

* * *

Elesis went to her home along with her parents. "Get a rest, dear. You must be tired," her mom pet her head.

Elesis smiled at her as she saw them went to their room. Before Elesis went to her room, she looked at the door next to her room. She had been told by her parents not to interact with someone inside the room.

It's her brother.

She never knew why. She asked them, but this was their reply:

_It's not important._

_But how is it not important? He's my brother!_ Elesis thought. Her parents still allowed him to go to school, but she never knew why. She tried to interact with him several times, but she always got the same reply:

_Don't talk to me, sis. You'll get trouble._

Elesis denied that statement. When she got caught talking to him, she got yelled and her parents forced her to go to her room and lock the door. She did as her parents told her, but after that, she can't sleep that night.

She can hear her brother screamed in pain and she didn't know why.

Until this day, she still didn't know why. The only thing she knew was her parents were keeping him alive.

She went to her room. Looking at a blank paper on her desk, she picked a pen and wrote something on it. After that, she gave the paper to his brother's room through the hole below the door.

_"Mom and dad are going on holiday for 3 days starting tomorrow. I'll go to school to see you graduated along with my friends. Let's have some fun, okay? :)"_

* * *

The next day, they came to school gate in junior high school. Elesis was standing in front of the gate, waving her hand as her friends come.

Ara looked around. Nobody else except four of them, "Where's your brother?"

"I'm sure he's already in school hall. Let's go!" Elesis smiled.

"Hey, do you remember when we're still in junior high school, when everybody said Ciel is gay because he's hanging out with us?"

"I remember and I don't care about it."

"I remember when we were late and we got punished by that Mr. Killer!"

Memories came back to them. They're talking about the past until they arrived at school hall.

"Why are you here?"

They turned to a woman who spoke to them, "Hi, Ms. Noah!"

She glared at them, "I thought you were graduated yesterday. Are you coming back to junior high school?"

An elf was walking to their spot. She patted Noah's shoulder, "I'll take care of them. Take care of the other guests, Ms. Noah."

Ara, Elesis, and Ciel looked at the elf. "Ms. Rena!"

The elf, Rena, smiled to them and guided them to the back of the school hall. She's student's beloved teacher for her kindness. Also, Rena was the only teacher who take care of him.

"You're here to see Elsword, right?"

Elesis nodded, "We want to see my brother. I invite them here because my parents are going on holiday for 3 days, so we have time to have fun with him."

* * *

After all the performances and entertainments from students, finally something they had waited has come.

Trophies for the top three best students. Bronze trophy and silver trophy given to the two students didn't really impress them.

"The best student of this year is..."

Waiting for the MC to continue his words, some of students were whispering, guessing who might be the best student.

Rena smiled as she saw them whispering, "It's obvious to me."

Elesis giggled. "I'm glad." Her friends look at her confusedly.

"...Elsword!"

All students whispered while the parents clapped their hands. Elsword stood up and walked to the stage. The principal beside the MC gave the golden trophy to him.

"Go, everyone."

Ara, Elesis, Ciel, and Lu look at Rena. She looked at them and smiles gently, "You know, photo session."

Before the photo session, Elsword whispered something to the MC. He nodded, "Unfortunately, we'll skip the photo—"

"Wait!"

Everyone looked back. Ara's cheeks turned red because she just shouted that without thinking. She looked at her friends. "Guys, come on!"

Elesis grabbed Rena's hand, "You're coming too, Ms. Rena!"

Five of them walked to the stage. Everything became really awkward.

Elesis smiled awkwardly to the MC, "We're his relatives!"

On closer look, Elesis' friends noticed scars on Elsword's body and face. He also wears an eyepatch.

Ciel looked at confused Elsword and waved his hand, "Long time no see, Els!"

Luckily the MC trusted them.

* * *

They went back to their place as soon as the photo session ended. This time, Els was with them.

"I'm sorry I said something bluntly like that," Ciel apologized. Ara bowed down and apologize as well.

Elesis introduced them to each other. Els hid behind Rena. "Hey, they're your sis' friends. Don't be shy," Rena smiled as she looked at him. Els was still hiding behind her, holding her hands tightly. She sighed, "I'm sorry. He always got bullied, so he's scared to meet someone new. Also, he doesn't have friends, so be nice to him, okay?"

Ara moved closer to Rena. She lowered her body and moved her face closer to Els'. "Let's go to the restaurant to celebrate our best student! Your sister and your new friends, Ciel and I will treat you!" she smiled.

Ciel glared at Ara, "Hey! We haven't talk about this!"

Elesis hit Ciel's arm with her elbow, "Come on, Ciel! Just agree!"

"I'll pick the best cake for you!" Lu grinned.

Rena put her pointy finger on her lips, "Sshh... this graduation is still going."

"...right."

Ara tilted her head, "What did you say, Els?"

"Alright."

"Come here!" Ara quickly hugged Els.

Elesis sighed and smiled, "Just like the first time she met Lu. She literally hugged almost everyone."

* * *

The graduation ended. Everyone was going to the canteen. Food was prepared for all of them. Some of the students were going to sing and play musical instrument.

"Are you guys still going to restaurant or eat here?" Rena smiled.

Ara looksed at her wallet. "Um... actually... I'm short of money... ahaha... ha..." Ara gave a forced laugh.

Elesis and Ciel looked at their wallet too. Elesis smiled sadly, "Me too."

On the other side, Ciel didn't want to say anything about his thin wallet.

Ara faced Els. "D-Don't worry, Els! We'll treat you after we got money! We promise!"

"Don't make such promise like that!"

Lu and Rena giggled at them. "Okay, kids! Let's just eat here!" Rena shouted as she clapped her hands.

"Okay!"

They were eating while hearing a song that was sung loudly by the singer because there were 4 speakers set to high volume. They had to shout to talk to each other.

"This is too loud!" Ara shouted.

"Just eat!" Elesis shouted back.

Els muttered something, but of course they can't hear them. Knowing that, Elsword gave up.

* * *

After they finished eating, they're having a small talk, but they had to do it by shouting to each other. On the other side, Els was looking at the singer, hoping the singer or one of the musician will realize that this was too loud.

Elesis stood up, "We're going, Ms. Rena!"

Rena nodded and waved her hand. "Bye! Take care!"

Suddenly the microphone the singer's hold makes a squealing sound. Everyone covered their ears. After a while, the squealing sound gone and the song continues. "Bye, Ms. Rena!"

They exited the school through the back door. "It sure brings more memories! When we were trying to skip class and exit from this way!" Ara smiled as she closed the door.

Elesis looked at Ara and smiled, "That's why I chose this way!"

When they're on their way to school gate, they found something unexpected.

_They just graduated,_ Ara thought, taking a step away from what she has seen.  _Why such thing happened?!_

Seeing this, Ciel quickly closed Lu's eyes with his hand.

"Why? What is this smell?"

In front of them was...

**...a dead body.**

A body of a girl—to be exact—a student. Blood was flowing from the head to the ground. It seemed that she fell from the head first. Her neck was broken and the rest of her body was not in its shape anymore. She didn't wear her shoes.

Elesis gasped and closed her mouth in surprise, "W-Where's her shoes? D-Did she leave it on... rooftop?"

Ara turned around. "I-Is this… suicide?"

"No. This is murder."

They glanced at Els who was still calm. "The killer must be still around this school. Someone please make sure the singer didn't go anywhere and guard the back door. Also, if you could, disturb the singer. I'll go to rooftop by emergency exit," Els gave his trophy to Elesis, told her to hold the trophy for a moment, and climbed up emergency exit stairs.

Lu was still wondering what just happened, "What's wrong with the singer?"

Ciel took Lu away from the scene. "We'll watch the singer!" he shouted as he took Lu back to the canteen.

"T-This… This is horrible!" Ara cried.

Elesis took out her cell phone, "…I'll call the police. You can guard the back door, Ara."

* * *

Els was climbing up the stairs as fast as he can. The sound of the song still can be heard. He can hear someone footsteps. He's following the sound as he goes faster.

Finally he found someone—a black haired boy. The boy realized Els chased him. He stopped and turned around.

Els also stopped. They're looking at each other, prepared for something happened. He narrowed his eyes at the boy. "Why are you here?"

The boy put his right hand in his pocket. "I could ask you the same question".

_A gun?_  Elsword thought as he looked at the boy's pocket.  _From its shape, it's probably a gun. I should choose my words carefully, but I never been in this kind of situation._

* * *

Lu can't stand the loud sound, "Big bro! Why are we back here?!"

Ciel lowered his body. "I'll explain later, okay?! Do you want to sing there?!" Ciel pointed the singer's place.

Lu looked at his brother, "May I?!"

Ciel smiled and nodded. He took Lu to the singer's place. The singer looked at Lu. She lowered her body and smiled at Lu as she gave the microphone.

"Could you please lower the volume?! I can't stand this!" Lu shouted with the microphone in her hand.

The singer startled, but then she nodded.

* * *

The sound faded away. The boy became slightly panicked. "You didn't answer my question yet," Els said calmly.

"I-I'm here because I want to feel emergency exit for once. Is it weird?"

"Then why are you trembling?"

"I don't want to get caught!"

"You won't be punished just by using emergency exit stairs."

Els pointed the boy's pocket. "And you don't have to bring that thing".

The boy took out his gun and pointed it at Els' head. He remains calm with yhe fact that his life is at risk didn't bother him, "You'll get arrested if you shot me, Lento."

The boy, Lento, was sweating, "Why?! I didn't kill her!"

"See? You're panicked," Els sighed, "I didn't say anything about a girl. Why did you bring that all of a sudden? What I'm trying to say is you'll get arrest for shooting me. Your singer is not singing right now, so a sound of gun can be heard from the canteen."

_Another footsteps?_  Elsword gulped.  _Is it his friends?_

A blonde girl ran to Els' side and pointed her gun at Lento, "Drop your gun, boy. You're under arrest."

"W-Why?! I didn't do anything!"

"We heard everything."

From upstairs, a blonde boy climbed down the stairs with a handcuff.

* * *

Lento and the singer were arrested. The blonde girl walked toward Els, "These two are not prepared for something worse. Anyway, I have something to ask, how did you know it was a murder?"

Els looked at the blonde girl, "Our school doesn't have 4 speakers. The squealing sound from the microphone was loud enough to cover a loud voice from outside. For example, a girl screaming and asking for help or something falls from the rooftop. We went out not long after the squealing sound and we found the victim. Blood was still flowing from her head—that means she just fell from the rooftop or somewhere on higher place while the microphone made the squealing sound. As far as I know, the victim didn't have a reason to kill herself. The victim did something bad, but it wasn't her fault."

The blonde girl narrowed her eyes at him. Els lowered his head, scared to do eye contact with the blonde girl, "The victim accidentally killed the boy's girlfriend 4 months ago. They were playing at the rooftop. I don't know what kind of game they played, but the victim accidentally pushed his girlfriend. The boy got really angry and said he would get revenge someday."

"What about the singer?"

"She's his girlfriend's best friend," Els looked at the blonde girl. "I was watching her. The squealing sound was made on purpose."

The blonde girl sighed, "So that's how it goes. Good job, boy. What's your name?"

Els told her his name. "I'm Rose. That boy is Chung," the blonde girl, Rose, pointed the blonde boy, Chung.

"As expected from our best student!" Elesis patted Elsword's head, "Here! Your golden trophy!"

Ara smiled at him. "We made that promise, right? We'll treat you for your awesomeness!"

Els' cheeks turned red and lowered his head. "N-No. I-It's just a simple thing that everyone can figure out. I just happen to know the victim's problem."

"Actually, nobody would think that squealing sound was made on purpose," Ciel smiled.

Lu also smiled at Elsword. "Yeah! You're amazing!"

"We'll take our leave," Rose waved her hand.

* * *

"So... we still have time, right? Let's walk around the town!" Ara smiled.

Ciel agreed with Ara's idea. "Good idea! Let's go!"

"I-I'm going home," Elsword muttered.

Elesis sighed. She smiled at her brother and grabbed his hand, "Come with us, Els."

Els shook his head, "I'll scare everyone with these scars."

Elesis patted Elsword's head, "We bought a jacket for you as a present to cover your scars! Come on!"

"Y-Yeah! Of course we can buy that!" Ciel gave a thumb-up.

Elsword look at them, smiling. "Okay!"


	2. Chapter 2

It's been 4 months since the incident. Elesis, Ara, and Ciel were now design students. "I want to sleep!" Ara whimpered. As a college student, sleep was a precious gift from heaven.

"No time to sleep! I've been waiting for this!" Ciel proudly showed 5 tickets to Elesis and Ara. He gave 2 for Elesis and 1 for Ara.

A ticket to a concert.

Ara's jaw opened in shock. "Aisha?! That super popular idol?!"

"I waited 12 hours to buy the tickets, you know," Ciel smiled.

Elesis looked at Ciel in disbelief, "You could finish your assignments, you idiot!"

"Hey, I'm her biggest fan!" Once again, Ciel smiled proudly. "Are you guys coming or not?"

Elesis and Ara looked at each other and nodded. Elesis looked at the 2 tickets on her hand, "Why are you giving me 2 tickets? Don't tell me..."

Ciel sighed as if Elesis had asked a dumb question, "Invite your brother, dummy."

Elesis' eyes widened. "Are you serious?!" she looked at the tickets again, "I have to make sure my parents will go out that day!"

"Just say our parents want to meet. It always worked out!" Ara winked.

Elesis nodded happily, "Alright! Thanks a lot, Ciel, Ara! He would be very happy!"

* * *

The day came and what happened was the complete opposite with Elesis' words. Els was hiding his face with his hood. He got that hoodie from them after that incident.

"Thank you all for coming!"

The crowd cheered as Aisha, the idol, got off from the stage. Elesis lowered her body to face Els, "You okay, Els?"

Els nodded slightly. "It's just... so many people..."

"Oh, right. This is the first time you're in a crowd like this," Elesis nodded.

"I'm going to the backstage, guys!" Ciel shouted as he went away without thinking.

Lu sighed, "Bro is a big fan of her. I guess it can't be helped."

Ara nodded. "Then let's follow him!"

4 of them followed Ciel to the backstage. Everyone was asking for her autograph and taking a photo of her while a lot of reporters were asking questions and handing the microphone.

Finally Aisha was walking nearer to Ciel. "I'm Ciel! Pleased to meet you!" he shouted as he offered a handshake with a smile.

Seeing this, Aisha's eyes widened in surprise.  _None of my fans ever do this,_  she thought.

_So it's him…_

She gave a sweet smile and shook his hand, "Pleased to meet you too!"

_Click! Click! Click!_

Everyone was looking at them, except Els. He's looking at something else. Many people took a photo of them making a handshake.  _I wonder why,_ Ciel thought to himself.

Aisha smiled again before she left. Ciel looked at a piece of paper on his hand.

_"Meet me at Elder Restaurant tomorrow_

_2 PM_

_-Aisha"_

"You're so lucky!" Ara patted Ciel's back.

"You can skip class once in a while, Ciel~" Elesis smiled at him.

Ciel was frozen in place, looking at the paper. Els said something, but because it's noisy, nobody can hear him.

* * *

Before they went home, they went to a restaurant to have a dinner. "Ciel, your face is red since you got that paper," Elesis said as she smiled at him.

"Sorry! I just don't know what to do!" Ciel slammed his head to the table.

Ara laughed as she patted Ciel's head, "You'll be fine, Ciel!"

"I think it's a bad idea."

Everybody looked at Els. He lowered his head and covered his face with his hood. Elesis placed her hand on Els' shoulder from the back. "What's wrong, Els?"

"There's Aisha's stalker."

Ara looked up at the ceiling, remembering the time when they were at the backstage, "Really? I think it's just your imagination."

Els shook his head. "He writes everything about her—he counted how many times Aisha signs an autograph, wrote what she's saying to the reporter, took a photo of her from every angle, and the last is he looks angry with you, Ciel."

"Oh, that guy!" Lu nodded, "So you call that kind of guy a stalker!"

Ara blinked her eyes several times. "How did you recognize all that of all people?"

"Every fan was asking for her autograph while he doesn't. It's pretty… obvious…" Els' voice faded away.

Ciel looked at Els. "Hey, could you come here tomorrow? At 2 PM? I know you have school, so don't worry about coming late!"

Hearing that, Els startled. "We'll come too. You're not alone," Elesis smiled at her brother.

"Luckily we have morning class for tomorrow! Free time after 11 AM!" Ara shouted happily. Els nodded slightly.

"I'm coming too!" Lu shouted. Even though Ciel can take care of himself, his little sister was still worried.

Ciel shook his head, "It's far from our home, Lu. You should stay home."

* * *

The next day, Ciel was standing in front of the restaurant, along with his friends. He took a deep breath and released it.

"You can do it, buddy. We'll watch you from the other table!" Ara gave a thumb-up.

Ciel shook his head in disagreement, "I think you guys should wait here. Els doesn't know this restaurant, right?"

"Well, I already told him which way to go, but you have a point there," Elesis nodded, "We'll wait for him here."

Ciel entered the restaurant. A purple pigtail haired girl was waving her hand at him. She wore a hat and a simple white dress. He quickly realized that it's Aisha. He walked toward her and sat in front of her.

"Don't call me by my real name, okay?" she whispered as she smiled.

"Alright, Rose," he winked. He just took the cop's name from that incident.

Aisha giggles, "Sorry to call you here all of a sudden. I just want to say thank you."

Ciel looked at her confusedly, "Thank you for what?"

"You always give me a present every time I released a new album. You also give a present for my birthday. Don't pretend you didn't do that," Aisha smiled again, her cheeks turned slightly red.

Seeing that, Ciel's cheeks turned slightly red as well. "T-That's…"

The waitress served two teas to their table. Aisha put a few sugar cubes to her tea and stirred it, "Hey, I really, really want to tell something to someone. Do you want to hear me?"

Ciel startled "Of course!"

Aisha giggled at Ciel's reaction.  _She's too cute,_  Ciel thought.

"I'm thinking about quitting my job."

Ciel is shocked by her words, but remain calm. "I'm sick of it. Everyone just cares about my song, right? Nobody cares about me," Aisha murmured, then she smiled at Ciel, "but you're different. You always told me to not push myself too hard and get enough sleep so I won't collapse in the middle of work. You're the reason for me to keep going."

Hearing this, Ciel's face turned redder and redder. Aisha lowered her head, "but I don't think I can go any longer. My manager won't let me have a vacation. I'm tired!" Tears began to flow on her eyes, "People don't care about me. I'm still a human being! I'm not a robot!"

Ciel never had this kind of situation. Lu was a happy-go-lucky little sister. She's rarely crying. Elesis and Ara were like two crazy best friends. They laugh more than cry. Except things getting too funny that makes them laugh until tears come out. And he just met Els twice, so he didn't really know him.

"As your fan, of course I'm disappointed if you're quit, but…" Ciel held Aisha's hand, "…just like you said, you're human. You can do whatever you like on your life."

Aisha wiped her tears and looked at Ciel. "Whatever you want to do, I'll cheer for you, Rose," Ciel smiled at her.

Aisha smiled back, held his hand tightly, "Thank you, Ciel."

Ciel just realized he held her hand without thinking and quickly apologized. Aisha shook her head, "Your hand is warm…"

Ciel just looked at it as his cheeks turned red. "Anyway," Aisha released her hand and took the menu beside her, "What kind of cake do you want?"

They looked at the menu. "How about this?" Aisha pointed a cake on the corner of the menu. Ciel nodded in agreement. She looked at other menu, "What should I order?"

"Maybe you could try this. It's delicious," Ciel said as he pointed a red cake.

"Okay!" Aisha nodded. They ordered the cakes.

"I'm going to restroom first," Ciel said as he stood up.

* * *

Els ran to the restaurant. "Hey!" Elesis waved her hand as Els approached them.

"You can just walk, you know," Ara patted Els's shoulder.

"S-Sorry, I'm… late…" Els muttered as his voice faded away.

"How's school?" Elesis asked as she patted her brother's head.

"Like usual," he answered, which means he's getting bullied like always.

"Murderer!"

"Aisha is  **murdered**!"

They quickly went inside, but the waiter stopped them, "You can't go inside, kids."

"We just want to see our friend!" Elesis insisted.

A few minutes later, the police came. A familiar figure walked toward them, "It's you guys again!"

"Ms. Rose! Can we go in?" Els looked at Rose with full of hope.

Rose sighed, "Sorry. You can't. And you can just call me Rose."

"Please? Our friend is there!" Ara begged.

Rose looked at the restaurant. Ciel was taken to the police car, "I'm afraid your friend is under arrest."

They quickly ran to police car. "Ciel! Who killed her?" Els asked all of a sudden.

Ciel shook his head, "I don't know. I'm counting on you, guys!"

"We'll find a way to prove you innocent, Ciel!" Ara smiled, even though she's not sure with her own words. They looked the police car going further from them.

Chung walked toward them, "I think there's a chance to prove him innocent."

The three's eyes widened. "Really?!"

"I just questioned all the customers, waiters, and waitresses. Nobody sees Ciel putting a poison on Aisha's cake, but!" Chung stopped his words to stop those three's hopes getting higher, "Ciel went away before the cakes served."

"Did you ask her stalker?"

Chung stares at Els, "Stalker?"

"The black haired guy with glasses, about the same height as me. He always brings a brown book like a dictionary and a brown backpack," Els described.

"We don't know that much. Do you have a photo of him?" Rose asked.

Els shook his head, "Can we look at the CCTV on the backstage at her concert yesterday?"

* * *

They found him at his home. "Of course I know about that murder," the stalker named Allegro murmured, "Why did he kill her? Why?!"

"We're sorry to ask you while all of that happened, but can you tell us about Aisha?" Rose asked.

"Her age is 18 years old, 162 centimeters tall, A blood type, birthday is 27th December…"

Allegro kept talking about her personal information and daily life—even from 3 years ago, most of them were not important. Chung fell asleep, Elesis and Ara decided to use their phone—chatting to someone else, Els was looking at his surrounding for no reason, while Rose was still listening to him.

About 2 hours passed and finally Allegro started talking about the meeting between Aisha and Ciel. Chung woke up and began to hear him. "She looked so excited about the meeting. She went there 1 hour 4 minutes before meeting, looked at the clock every 5 minutes and texted using her cell phone often to wait for him. When he finally came, she looked really happy. She whispered something to him and then they talked about something really serious until she cried. Ciel held her hand, which made me really angry! He should know his place! He should just die already!"

"Alright, calm down, Allegro," Rose ted Allegro's back for the sake of information.

"Sorry," he apologized. "After he said something, she felt calmer. They ordered cakes—Aisha ordered a red velvet cake and Ciel ordered cheese cake. He went to the restroom while she drank her tea and texted using her cell phone, and when he came back, that happened…"

 _Something's missing,_ Els thought. He still doesn't know what's missing.

Rose nodded, "From your information, you said she's stressed over something before the meeting. Do you know what that is?"

Allegro shook his head. Rose stood up and bowed down, "Thank you very much. Is it okay if we come back for more information?"

"Sure. I'll help if I could!" Allegro nodded.

* * *

They decided to ask Ciel. "Hey! Do you have some good news?" Ciel asked with full of hope.

Rose shook her head, "We need to ask you something about her. Did she tell you something about her being stressed over something?"

Ciel nodded and told them about Aisha who wanted to quit her job.

"Oh, it's not really important," Rose sighed.

"Ciel, what were you doing in restroom?" Els suddenly asked.

"Nature's call," Ciel lifted up his one eyebrow, "What else?"

"A person had a time to put a poison into the cake, so I'm sure you spent more than nature's call," Els replied.

"Els, you're making everything sounds like he's at fault," Ara face palmed.

Realizing that, Els covered his face with his hood, "I-I didn't mean to! I-I'm sorry!"

Ciel laughed at Els's reaction, "It's fine, Els! The door lock is broken and I can't get out that time, so I spent about 10 minutes or so."

"I haven't checked that yet. Rose, I'm going to check it," Chung said as he went away.

"Chung, wait!" Ara grabbed Chung's shoulder, "Can we join you?"

"Yeah! We can't just stay here!" Elesis agreed with Ara.

Chung thought about it, and then he nodded. They went to the crime scene.

"What do you want to do now, Els?" Rose asked as she patted Els' head.

"Please tell me what you two did after Aisha said all that," Els requested.

Ciel told him that Aisha decided to take an order. She wanted a cake. She chose a cake for Ciel first, then Ciel suggested a cake she should order.

"...After that, I went to restroom. I don't know what Aisha was doing," Ciel sighed.

"That stalker took the wrong information about the order. The murder happened 2.28 PM. We need to know what happened—" Rose's eyes widened as she realized something. She took her walkie talkie, "—Chung, check the CCTV."

Rose turned her face to Ciel. "Ciel, I know you're really sad now, but please wait a little longer. We'll find the killer."

Ciel lowered his head, "It's no use. Nobody believes me."

"Rose, can I take Aisha's cell phone?"

Rose stared at Els, "I'm not sure. Why?"

"I want to go back to Allegro's place," he replied.

Rose narrowed her eyes. "Do you suspect him?"

* * *

Chung checked the CCTV. He sighed and took out his walkie talkie, "Rose, someone shot a laser to the CCTVs. We can't see anything."

Elesis and Ara sighed. "What should we do?" Ara panicked.

"Ma'am, when was the bathroom door lock broken?" Chung asked to the owner of the restaurant.

"It's broken this morning. I put a paper about the door so customers will know, but I don't know when the paper's gone."

Once again, Chung checked the CCTV, "This guy shot a laser before doing his action. What a smart guy."

"We're sorry. We can't help much," the owner apologized.

Chung shook his head, "You're really helping, ma'am. Thank you very much!"

His walkie talkie made a static. He took it out to hear a call from Rose. "Chung, get Aisha's cell phone."

"Cell phone?" the three of them asked simultaneously.

Before leaving, Chung looked at the table, "Allegro is really giving the wrong information about the order. I thought he's a stalker."

They went to the police department. "Sir, can I have Aisha's cell phone?" Chung asked.

"We didn't find any important information from that. What do you want?" the chief narrowed his eyes at Chung.

"I'm her fan!" Chung smiled, "Can I have it for a moment? Please?"

The chief sighed. "Okay, here," he gave the cell phone to Chung.

They came out from the department. "Are you really her fan?" Ara asked as she smiled.

"Of course not. He won't let me have it if I didn't say that," Chung sighed.

They went to Allegro's house. Before entering his house, they met Rose and Els a few meters from his house. "Here. I don't know what you're trying to do," Chung gave the cell phone to Rose.

"This is a new model!" Rose shouted as she looked at the cell phone.

"S-Sorry," Els took the cell phone from Rose.

"You're her fan after going to her concert once?" Elesis teased.

"I knew it," Els looked at the screen. "I just need his motive—"

He stopped his words. "Els?" Ara moved her hand up and down in front of Els' eyes.

"Did you figure something out?" Rose asked, feeling curious.

"Rose, we need to meet Allegro again—"

Rose sighed as she patted Els's head, "Alright, alright! Calm down!"

* * *

They went back to Allegro's house, "Allegro, we found out what she's stressed over with in exchange for you information," Rose smiled at him.

"It doesn't matter now," Allegro murmured.

 _I thought I can make a chit-chat before Els is going to ask something serious about him,_ Rose thought as she sighs.

"I'm sorry. I didn't really pay attention back then," Els apologized, "Could you tell me what Aisha was doing when Ciel went to restroom?"

"She was drinking her tea and texting using her cell phone until he came back," Allegro answered.

"I see…" Els muttered, "You know Ciel was locked in the restroom for around 10 minutes, right?"

Allegro nods, "I don't know what he's doing."

"What were you doing?"

Els' question brings a silence to the room. "I was watching her the whole time," Allegro answered, still calm.

"Then why you didn't say anything about her calling someone using her cell phone?" Els asked as he showed Aisha's cell phone. The screen showed that Aisha was calling her parents at 2:25 PM, 3 minutes before the murder.

Allegro startled. "O-Oh yeah, she was calling someone. I forgot about it."

"You remember very well about her daily routines a year ago. How could you forget this?" Els narrowed his eyes at Allegro.

"Oh, I found this," Chung showed a laser from Allegro's backpack.

"Hey! It's rude to see someone belongings without permission!" Allegro yelled.

"But all the CCTVs were shot by laser," Ara replied.

Els glared at Allegro, "You're the murderer".

"Hey, son of a b-tch, how could I murder her?!" Allegro shouted angrily.

Els narrowed his eyes and smiled at him. "You're only a stalker. Aisha ordered a cheese cake for Ciel and Ciel pointed red velvet cake as a suggestion for Aisha. In your point of view, it looks like Aisha ordered a cheese cake and Ciel ordered a red velvet cake. Of course, as her stalker, you don't want her to die. You were trying to kill Ciel."

"What for? I don't need to kill him," Allegro sighed.

"You're jealous. You said something about wanting him to die," Els replied.

"Yeah. I heard that," Rose nodded in agreement.

"So?"

Allegro glared at Els. "You can't arrest me!"

He took out a syringe from his pocket.

_Bang!_

Allegro fell to the floor. A bullet is embedded on his right arm. "You can tell that to the judge," Chung smiled as he lowers his gun.

* * *

"Thanks, buddy! You helped us again!" Rose patted Els's head.

Els lowered his head. "I-I didn't. I just bring all of you to a new problem and Chung had to help me..."

"We wouldn't figure it all out by now without you," Chung patted Els's back.

"Be proud, brother," Elesis gave a thumb-up to Els.

"I didn't get a chance to eat! Come on, let's eat!" Ara rubbed her stomach, "It's on me!"

* * *

A few days later, Ciel was back to his normal life. Ara looked at him, "You okay?"

"Not really, but…" he sighed as he took out his cell phone and checked the message.

_"From: Lil Sis_

_Thx for thr [hone, big bro! I jst learnt how to senf a messagfe!_

_You;re the first ome1 you shpuld be proud!"_

_She still makes typos,_ Ciel thought as he smiles. "…I still have someone more important than her."


	3. Chapter 3

Summer was the time everyone was waiting for. They got holidays, a time they really needed to take a break and hang out with family or friends.

"I don't think I'm going anywhere. My family is too busy with their business," Ara sighed. She was hoping to be with her family at least once a year, but they're always busy.

"We neither. My cousins would come to our house, though," Ciel said with a shrug. After the Aisha incident, Ciel wasn't able to get her off his mind. Her songs were still on his playlist, after all. At least he's back to his normal self and that's all his friends needed.

"I wish I could spend time with you guys," Elesis frowned at them, "My parents and I are going for holiday. I would be lonely!"

"You can always text us!" Ara waved her hand along with her phone and smiled.

Elesis smiled back, "I have a request, if you guys are fine with it."

"Can you guys play with Els?"

* * *

A few hours after Elesis went away with her parents, Ara entered her house using the key she gave her. She opened the door and walked toward Elesis' room. This was not her first time in her friend's house, but he couldn't find Elsword's room.

_"Elesis, I only saw your room. Guide me!"_

_"Push the wall on the left side"_

Ara pushed the wall. It rotated and made her startled a bit. She walked toward a room she never saw before and knocked the door.

"Els, it's Ara. Let's play! Your parents aren't here!"

Els opened the door a bit, "Did sis give you a key?"

Ara giggled and forced herself to smile, "Yeaaah, but come on! We can discuss that later!"

Els closed the door. Ara flinched and knocked the door again, "Wait, you're not coming?!"

"I sprained my ankle."

"I can fix that! Come out or I'll get in!"

"D-Don't come in!" Els opened the door slightly and came out.

Ara narrows her eyes at his ankles, "Why did you lie?"

Els lowered his head. "Two murders weren't a coincidence. What if I brought trouble again?" he muttered.

Ara didn't listen to Els' words and grabbed his hand to go outside. He tried to resist, but Ara was way much stronger than him, so he just followed her.

"What's actually inside your room? I took a peek, you know," Ara walked slower so she could hear Els' usual low volume voice when people were around.

"Promise me you won't tell sis," Els looked at Ara's eyes.

The girl nodded. She actually regretted that she wanted to know the truth.

* * *

They went to nearest amusement park. "We're going to have so much fun! I really wanted to go here with everyone, but sadly my family are busy, Elesis is on holiday, and Ciel are having family time with his cousins," Ara smiled happily, still holding Els' hand in case he's trying to run away.

"This place seems dangerous," Els moved closer to Ara and hid behind her.

"It'll be fine! Let's go!" Ara started running to try every available place, excluding dangerous one even though it should be safe.

After a few hours, they went to a food court to eat. "You're no fun, Els. We should try everything," Ara commented before she drank her soda.

Els lowered his head and hid his face eith his hoodie, "I told you to go by yourself. Just... don't take me."

"Ara! Is that you?!"

A blonde girl walked toward them. Ara looked at her and waved her hand. "Luriel! You are bored too?"

"Hello there," Luriel smiled at Els. Like usual, Els looked away from them.

"Oh, this is my neighbor. He's shy," Ara lied as she patted Els' head.

"Did you see Ariel? I'm trying to find her since 2 hours ago, but I don't know where she is. I lost her in the middle of the crowds," Luriel said as she looked around.

Ara shook her head. Luriel checked the place they went before, but she can't find her anywhere. Her twin didn't even come out when she used the announcement to find missing people.

"We'll try to look for her. I'll let you know if I find her," Ara said to Luriel. She smiled and thanked them before she went away.

"I told you this place is dangerous," Els murmured. Ara just laughed at him and patted his back. He smiled at the happy Ara.

"Alright. This place isn't dangerous, so you better come with me," Ara put her hands on her hips and smiled at a building in front of her.

Haunted House.

"I know it's not dangerous, but I don't want to go there," Els shook his head.

Ara pulled his and forced him to come with her.

Els hid his face behind Ara almost the whole time while Ara laughed at almost everything she saw. A running ghost, a walking mummy, a vampire, even an unknown creepy creature were funny things for Ara.

They passed a turn around and got surprised by a hanging person. Ara laughed again and walked away from it, but Els grabbed her left hand.

"Ara, you got flashlight on your phone?" Els asked with low voice to make sure no one heard him.

"What, you got scared by everything?" Ara giggled as she took out her phone and turned on the flashlight, "Here, I'll show you it's all fake—"

Ara gasped and screamed at the moment she saw the hanging man's appearance.

Ariel.

* * *

"Not sure if you bring bad luck or everything seems to be happening everywhere lately," Rose commented as she sat in front of the two, "We're still investigating the place. For now, you two are suspects."

Ara forced herself to laugh before she sighed, "Seriously? We're just trying to have fun..."

Rose giggled at Ara's reaction. She took a piece of paper and a pen from her pocket, "Just tell me what happened."

"We were walking inside the house. I thought it was one of the puppet, but Els realized it's a real body," Ara explained. She creeped out and trembled a bit when she remembered the scene.

"You should be able to tell a different between puppet and real body," Els replied on the explanation, "Although you're not alone. If everyone could do that, they could find her sooner."

Rose blinked her eyes several times, "Wait, you mean she died for a long time after you found her?"

Els looked away from them, "I think so. Her body wasn't moving, so I guess she got hanged for a few hours already."

Rose nodded and stood up. She walked toward Luriel who was crying over her twin in her seat, "I'm sorry for your loss, but I need to ask you a few questions."

On the other side, Ara sighed and looked at the sky, "Who would murder her like that? And how did the killer escape easily? It was crowded there."

Chung came out from the Haunted House and walked toward them. "You looked like you've seen a real ghost. I don't blame you, though."

Ara narrowed her eyes at the officer, "If she became an actual ghost inside that house, I won't enter again!"

"Uh, about that…" Chung looked back at the house, not sure if he should tell them what he investigated inside it, "We found 4 more dead bodies. There were no signs of them struggling or fighting. They died at around 10 p.m. from the—"

"What kind of killer you imagine?" Ara asked out of the blue. Chung turned to silence for a moment, not able to answer the question, "And that was when Ariel went missing…"

Chung reported everything to Rose when she came back. She rubbed her neck and looked at the note on her hand. "If that's the case, the killer got a plenty of time to hide evidence. This is troublesome…"

Els looked at them, "Are you sure they got killed?"

Like always, he made them looked at him with a curiosity. "I'm not sure, but nothing's wrong with Ariel according to Luriel. I don't see a reason for her to commit suicide."

"If it's a brainwash, she would commit suicide without any reason, no?" Els asked as he looked down. "It's just something I'm thinking since the murder on the school. I know Lento would do anything with violent, but I can't imagine him killing anyone. As for Aisha's case, Allegro could easily kill Ciel in his sleep, but he chose to murder him in a café. He should've known he would frame Aisha for the murder—and I don't think someone that wanted to see their idol shines would do that," he explained, looked at them and realized they're still staring at him, "M-Maybe it's just my imagination."

"Actually, I've been thinking about that too," Rose nodded and looked at the house, "but the brainwash didn't come at my mind. There were a lot of illogical cases for the past few years and I can't stop thinking about it. Everything doesn't make any sense."

There was silence for a moment. No one can say a thing about the case in Haunted House.

"You two should leave. If it's actually a murder, you guys are in danger," Rose smiled a bit at them.

* * *

They came back to home. Ara was still following Els to his house. "Thank you for today. I had fun," Els smiled before he closed the door to his room, but Ara held the door with her hand. She stared at Els who was trying to close the door.

"Actually, I said to my parents that I'm going to stay at my friend's house tonight," Ara smiled widely as she pushed the door open easily. Inside the room was torture devices that unexpectedly clean. "You cleaned that after they used it to you? Neat," Ara commented as she looked around.

"W-Wait! You can't sleep here!" Els shouted with a blush on his face.

Ara laughed happily. "Come on! It's fine! Consider it as a sleepover!" she hugged Els from the back and patted his head, "I won't tell Elesis! Don't worry!"

Els looked down and hid his face with his hoodie. He didn't say anything about it. "Although, something's bothering me…" Ara broke the hug and looked at Els.

"…Why didn't you or Elesis report your parents?"


	4. Chapter 4

The two officers sat on the nearest place to Haunted House at Elrios Amusement Park. The park needed to be closed for the day.

Rose was looking at all the notes on her binder. She disliked carrying it everywhere, so she chose to bring piece of papers and put it on the binder later. It's a mess with all the folded papers, but contained a lot of information. "I don't get it. Two times sounded impossible to be called a coincidence, and now three times," Rose sighed as she looked at all the cases she had been through.

Chung was looking at her, "It seems that you have something in your mind."

Rose leaned back on her chair and stared at Chung, "You were thinking about it too, weren't you?"

A white haired guy walked toward them and took a seat, "You two looked troubled."

"You better help rather than walking around the park, Add!" Rose yelled and hit Add's head.

"I was helping! Someone hacked the CCTV and I fixed it!" Add yelled back. Rose sighed and looked away from him, "If it's a suicide, they shouldn't bother the CCTV, so there might be evidence somewhere in the crime scene."

Chung decided to break the fight and continue to previous topic, "We met a red haired kid for a few in our cases. He helped us to find the culprit, but there was something wrong with him."

Add raised his one eyebrow. He didn't even think a kid could go to crime scene.

Rose sighed and put her binder on the table, "Not really a kid, he's a teenager. Anyway, he got scars all over his body and some of them were new—"

"You sure you're not talking to a ghost?" Add asked as he blinked his eyes several times, "Or maybe he got bullied in school. Seems normal—"

Rose slapped him so he would listen to her first as he rubbed his cheek. "You need to see him for yourself. I don't think it's bullying. It's more like an abuse," she crossed her arms and looked at the ceiling.

"Abuse?" Add tilted his head, "If so, why we didn't get any report about the abuse?"

"Exactly!" Rose slammed the table, startled Chung and Add at the same time, "His sister didn't even say anything! It's just weird!"

"You didn't ask him anything about it?" Add narrowed his eyes at Rose and Chung, "You can just ask. Simple."

"He would lie. I don't know where to start," Rose shrugged.

The guy sighed. He stood up and walked away, "I'll come with you next time and interrogate that boy myself."

The two flinched. Add's interrogation was special—and they would ran away if they had to.

* * *

The next week, at a park in Hamel, two persons were sitting in a bench. The girl was looking at her phone and the boy was hugging his knees and looking at his surroundings.

"Cool! Ciel will be here!" Ara shouted with a smile on her face. They had a bad time at the amusement park, but it didn't stop them from going out.

"I didn't agree to this," Els said as his voice faded away.

Ara was just laughing at him. She took him out the house with force. She can outfight him and he knew that.

A few minutes later, Ciel came. "Lu's playing with her friends," he informed and sat beside Els. Ara told him what happened last week at the amusement park. She didn't feel to go there for some time. Especially a haunted house.

After a moment of silence, Ara stood up and grabbed Els' hand, "You bring your stuff, right? Let's go to the beach in Sander!"

Ciel blinked his eyes several times, "Then why are we meeting up here?!"

* * *

They went to the place at Sander. Normally people would avoid sun in the summer, but Sander had a different atmosphere. Ara was definitely catching people's attention with her bikini while Ciel was being normal with his pants.

Ara lowered her body and knocked Els' head who was playing with sand, "Are you trying to get burned with your hoodie?"

"N-No, but I can't take this off," Els answered without looking at Ara.

She sighed and crossed her arms. "You're right about that. I'm going to play with Ciel, so you better be careful!"

"You mean watch your stuff..." Els muttered before he continued his sand castle.

* * *

After a few hours, they bought coconuts and drank the water. Ara and Ciel were really enjoying their time. Ara grabbed her phone on the table and used the camera, "Selfie! I'm sending this to Elesis!"

_Click!_

Ara looked at the photo on her phone and frowned. "Els, why are you looking away?!" she glared at Els who was looking away and drinking his coconut.

Ciel chuckled as he looked at frustrated Ara, "Not everyone likes photo. Deal with it."

Ara sighed and sent the photo to Elesis. Her friend got jealous with what they were doing and complained about her boring holiday with her parents. Ara kept sending whatever she could photo to make Elesis even more jealous.

"Walking around and shopping with parents? Sometimes they didn't know how to have fun," Ciel laughed at the text Elesis was sending. Elesis sent Ara photos of her parents looking at clothes. It was a really boring photo with nothing interesting.

Suddenly police officers were coming to the beach. They still let people there to do whatever they're doing and ask a few questions.

"It's you guys again!" Rose sighed as she smiled a bit, "A person was missing this morning. We were checking the entire hotel and places near it, including this beach, but we didn't find anything, so we came back here in case we're missing something."

"You guys need help?" Ara put her hand around Els' neck from the back, "He could help!"

Els didn't say anything while Rose laughed at it, "You guys just enjoy yourself. Don't mind us."

"When did he get missing?" Els asked all of a sudden.

Rose looked at the watch on her right hand, "Around 10 A.M.—3 hours ago."

Ara almost choked. "We arrived around that time!" she shouted and slammed the table.

"We didn't see anything weird, though. It might happen before we arrived," Ciel replied to the shocked Ara.

"Or it might happened when we're busy with ourselves," Els looked away from them, "I got carried away with the sand castle. It was so much fun, I didn't look at anything else."

Ara laughed happily as she slammed the table several times. She told him how much he concentrated on his sand castle and made him hide his face with the hoodie.

Rose giggled at them. "Tell me if you find anything. I'm going!" she said before she walked away.

* * *

After drinking their coconuts, they went back to play again. Els continued his sand castle by taking sand from anywhere near him until he spotted something. The color is different from the sand, so he dug it out.

He ran to the nearest police officer. "Sir, I found a dead body—"

The officer narrowed his eyes at Els, made him stop speaking, "Let me guess, you're Els?"

Els nodded slightly. The officer took his walkie talkie and told every officer that the body had been found. He took Els away from there, followed by Ara and Ciel who were wondering what was happening, even though they could guess that Els accidentally found the missing person.

Rose ran after them along with Ara and Ciel. They went to the place far away from the people. "Add, easy. He's afraid of you," Rose hit Add's back.

Add didn't seem to care. He lowered his body to face Els and stared at his eye, "About the case in amusement park, CCTV were hacked. Do you think it's still a suicide?"

Els looked back at Add and shook his head slightly. "If that's the case, I think anyone could murder people inside the Haunted House. No one will suspect a thing if they screamed for help," Els looked away when Add stared at him, "It was dark and I heard a lot of people screamed for help—although I don't know why they killed them."

Add cackled, made Ara and Ciel got confused and Rose crossed her arms. "You got it right. You really remind us of someone," Add showed his evil grin.

Add's words made Ara and Ciel even more confused, but Els startled a bit. Add narrowed his eyes, "You know what I'm talking about?"

"I-I..." Els took a step backward. He was scared of Add right now.

Add laughed maniacally, "You're going to tell me everything. Open your hoodie and explain those scars."

Els looked hesitant for a moment, but then he took off his hoodie, revealed the scars on his arms and neck. "I got bullied often," he muttered with the hope Add would be satisfied with the answer.

Add chuckled and grabbed Els' left arm. "Don't lie to me. This one was an axe, wasn't it?" he touched the scar near Els' left hand, made Ara and Ciel shocked. Els trembled and lowered his head. "You're telling me students brought an axe?" Add smiled as he narrowed his eyes.

There was silence. Els wanted to complain, but he didn't deny what Add said. He was just standing as Add examined his visible scars.

Rose walked toward them, "Els, this is an abuse, right? Why no one reported about it, including yourself?"

Els glanced at Rose, but then he looked away, "I... I can't... They might watching over us now."

Add let go of Els' left arm and looked at him with confused look, "Who?"

Els shook his head slightly and took a step backward, "I can't tell you. I don't want anyone to get killed."

Add looked at Rose, "I think our suspicion was right."

Rose sighed and shook her head as she rubbed her forehead, "We got ourselves in a bigger problem, I guess. If it's right, I'm ready."

Add looked back at Els before he ran away, "Mind showing me your left eye?"

Els kept silence. His feet were ready to run as fast as he could and Add noticed that. The officer stood up and sighed, "What about the scars on your body? Perhaps, your back?"

Els leaned against the wall and shook his head. "No, you can't! I'll do anything, but don't tell that to anyone! Just pretend you didn't know!" he trembled in fear with tears rolling down to his cheeks.

Ara and Ciel ran toward him. They didn't know what to do, but they were just there beside him. Add laughed maniacally. He seemed satisfied and confused at the same time. "You're the missing evidence from 12 years ago!" he grinned evilly and stared at Els.

The two friends froze in place when they heard the word "evidence". Rose sighed as she took out a piece of paper and wrote something on it.

"Please... save me..." Els sobbed and curled up on his spot. They really wanted to know what he was scared of.

"They're with the police anyway, so I can't take action right now," Add nodded to Els' words, "They won't kill you, right?"

"They might kill you," Els looked at everyone around him.

Ara flinched, "Did we just hear something we shouldn't hear?!"

Add took Els' hoodie and gave it back to him. "Thanks for your time. I'll find a way," Add said before he walked away and joined with the others to investigate.

"What are your thoughts for the case here?" Rose asked the three people in front of her.

Els wore his hoodie and wiped his tears, "Probably a poison, although I don't know when he drank it. Or maybe suffocation."

Rose patted Els' head. "I'm sorry for Add's action. He's always like that," she apologized before she went to join her co-workers.

Ara sighed and looked at the sky. "I don't know if we should go home or somewhere else. I'm not in the mood to have fun right now."

Ciel looked at the two, "You got more money? Coconuts didn't fill my stomach. Let's grab some food."

Ara smiled slightly. She looked at Els, "We'll be fine, Els. Don't think about it too much."

Els nodded at her. They prepared themselves to go away from the beach and leave the place immediately.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, 2 persons came to the police station. Rose sighed at them and guided them to someone they wanted to meet and leave them on an empty meeting room.

"Seriously? Do you know how dangerous it is talking about that?" Add sighed as he took out a novel. It was an old popular novel "Legend of Phoru" that can't be find anywhere on the bookstore anymore.

Ara's eyes were sparkling and took the novel. She opened the novel to find another thing written there.

A whole case of Elrios Corruption happened 12 years ago.

"Don't say a thing. Just read it," Add said as he looked at the files he brought with him. Ara and Ciel did as he told and read the 'novel'.

* * *

_12 years ago, people started to know a man who dedicated his life to Elrios in Ruben named Elkashu. He wasn't the leader of the world, but he contributed so many things in his village. The place started to get noticed by people thanks to his effort to improve Ruben in so many ways, such as technology and medical._

_Elkashu's wife was loved by everyone for her kindness. She helped people, not just by sending money but also giving foods for them. They had a daughter named Elesis._

_Everyone thought Elkashu could lead the Elrios to a better place until one of his co-workers reported him for corruption. It was a big corruption—whoever did that in Elrios will be sentenced to death penalty. The news spread fast and people began to lose hope._

_There was a woman named Erica as a prosecutor in the court. The woman was known as Legendary Prosecutor for her amazing analysis to reveal the truth. She was able to predict what actually happened at a case, supported by the evidence she had._

_Elkashu had so much hope in her to not spread the truth because of their relationship. Sadly, the woman who was Elkashu's second wife didn't hide the truth. She had evidence to prove it, but the evidence was still unknown to this day. Before she was able to present the evidence, which was a code and password, she got shot by a sniper. The sniper got caught, but his motives are unknown._

_Because of her death, Elkashu needed to take the child from her, Elsword. Elkashu wasn't imprisoned because lack of evidence, but they found other new evidence on the prosecutor's room that led them to a new suspect, Grace. She denied everything, but the evidence spoke more than her words. She got sentenced to death, but the question was still exist until this day:_

_Why did she deny it?_

* * *

"She didn't write it anywhere? Is it that important to not be said to anyone?" Ara asked Add as she lifted her one eyebrow. They can't speak the name because of the dangerous things Add was talking about.

"She could write it, but I think if it's true, he can just change everything before we checked it," Add replied without looking away from the files in his hand, "but I'm sure she wrote it on her son's body."

But you can remove tattoo. That means the code is gone already, right?" Ciel asked with confused look.

Add sighed and looked at them, "You know you can't really erase a scar."

Ara gasped and slammed the table, "She hurt him?! That's cruel!"

"I'm just guessing, although I can't think of another way," Add looked back at his files, "If you're done, you should go. This place isn't safe."

"The son should be popular, right? Why does nobody know him?" Ciel asked as he tilted his head, "He doesn't have a fake name, right?"

"Nobody knows his last name. That's all," Add sighed, crossed his arms and stared at the two, "Killing him will reveal the evidence, so he's going to be safe in a way you don't want to imagine."

Ara lowered her head. She remembered all the things she saw on his room, the torture room. "I feel like something doesn't make sense," Ara faced Add in front of her, "If no one knows the son, he can kill him and dispose the body. Why would he keep him alive and let him go to school."

Add shrugged. "He might know something that we needed, including his father, but he refused to tell it. That would explain the abuse. As for school..." he started grinning, "...I'm not sure, but school is another way to make someone stressed. Imagine a school with abuse after it."

"I like the fact that he didn't commit suicide after all that. What do you think he wanted to tell us?" Ciel leaned on the chair and looked at the ceiling.

Add sighed, "Who knows? And you guys are taking a lot of time here. Get out."

After the two went away, Rose and Chung entered the meeting room. They asked about what he was talking about with them and what to do now.

"I don't know how to bring the thing back after a long time, except we can force those people to talk about it," Add stood up and took his files, "I can visit them at midnight. Murders aren't a thing you see every day and that boy got involved 4 times. It's not a coincidence anymore."

Rose quickly disagreed with the idea and slammed the table, "Add, you're joking! Are you going to get yourself killed?!"

6 Nasod devices floated from behind Add. "Maybe," he smirked as each of devices show a screen about the case, "and I don't care. Whatever happens, I will find the truth of this case. My mom was innocent."

Grace, who was killed 12 years ago, was Add's mother. Rose and Chung knew this and they can't say a thing to stop him from doing it. "Just… be careful," Rose smiled slightly.

* * *

The next early morning, Rose woke up because of the alarm. She turned it off to see a lot of notifications, whether it's a chat, e-mail, phone call, or game announcement. But there's only 1 thing that caught her attention.

Dynamo's notification.

Dynamo was an application made by Add. It's used to send data from his devices to someone else, but in this case only Rose and him who have the app. Rose plugged in her earphone and tapped the notification, which was a voice record.

The end of it made Rose cried in shock. She called Add immediately, but the number she was calling was not in service, so she called someone else.

"Rose, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Chung asked worriedly before Rose could say a thing, "I'll come to your house. Wait for me!"

* * *

"It was a really good coconut, you know?! You should try Sander's coconuts when you're done with your boring holiday!" Ara said cheerfully to Elesis through the phone.

Elesis sighed as she looked at her surroundings. She was in the street alone, eating strawberry ice cream in her hand. "Not fair. I'm waiting for my mom and dad in the outlet! Thank goodness there are so many interesting thing in the street!"

"I can keep you busy with my stories! We were playing with fireworks last night along with Lu!" Ara kept telling her story while Elesis looked at something else. Her eyes were looking at someone she met two times already.

"Elesis? What's wrong?"

"Rose is coming at this way," Elesis said as she saw Rose and her co-workers getting closer, "You're not around here, right?"

"Don't hang up the phone! I want to know what happened and you can talk to me if you need to!" Ara shouted from her phone.

The two familiar officers, Rose and Chung walked toward her and greeted her. Elesis noticed Rose's eyes are swollen, "Why were you crying?"

Chung smiled slightly and shook his head, "It's irrelevant. Mind telling me where your parents are?"

Elesis pointed the outlet and looked at them with confused look. Without any words, Rose entered the outlet along with the other officers. Chung grabbed Elesis' hand with phone in it and took her to one of the police cars, "I'm sorry. You might not get involved, but you need to know."

Rose found Elkashu and his wife in the outlet. She pointed her gun on his head, "You're arrested for the case 12 years ago. You know what I'm talking about."

* * *

Chung and Elesis were going to her house. "Do you know the case about your father's corruption?"

Elesis nodded, "But he didn't do it."

Chung crossed his arms and shook his head, "He didn't because of false evidence. We just got a witness with evidence—"

"If my father really did it, we won't live in a normal house. I know my father is rich because of his job, but we don't have that much money, you know?" Elesis lifted her one eyebrow with confused look.

They arrived at the house. Elesis and Chung walked in and knocked the front door. "Els, it's me! Open the door please!" Elesis shouted to call her opened the door slightly and looked at them behind the door with one eye, "Did something happen?"

Chung didn't answer the question. He narrowed his eyes at him, "You know how much Elrios care about a corruption? Your dad got arrested and you're coming with me to the court to testify."

Elesis' eyes widened at the word "court". On the other side, Els opened the door widely and got out from the house without his hoodie. "Did Add die?" Els asked with a low voice.

Elesis got even more surprised with the word "die", even though she didn't know who Add was. Chung looked away and bit his lips. Even though Els only met Add once, he felt responsible for the death.

"I wish I could thank him for making the police believe that my dad was guilty," Els smiled a bit. He took off his eyepatch to reveal his blue colored left eye, "I'll speak what I know."

* * *

They arrived at the court. The defense attorney was ready in his place. He looked bored waiting, especially when the case was closed already.

"Don't hide behind me, Els. You were confident back then," Chung sighed as he looked at Els behind him.

The defendant, Elkashu, looked really angry when he saw his son. Els didn't even make an eye contact with him.

The judge was ready with Rose's phone in his hand. The phone contained a conversation between Add and one of the killer that got Els and the others involved in it.

* * *

_Add walked toward the killer on Sander Beach. He asked him about the case and brought about the corruption case 12 years ago._

_"You're crazy enough to ask that," the killer commented._

_Add narrowed his eyes, "Just answer the question, Raven."_

_The killer called Raven chuckled. He knew talking about the case will bring him into problem, even death. He looked at Add and smiled, "Elkashu didn't want the case to be "solved". He's willing to pay a lot of money if I disturb his son with his friends in order to keep him away from the outside world. Obviously he didn't want anyone to find out the truth."_

_Add lifted his one eyebrow, "But you get caught. The money is wasted then?"_

_"My parents have it. At least he kept his promise," Raven smirked as he cackled, "Anyway, his son is hiding something from him. He told me that I have to make sure his son didn't say a word."_

_Add crossed his arms, "You're not lying, aren't you?"_

_Raven chuckled at the question, "If we die after this, you know I'm telling the truth. You, as a police, should've known this better than everyone. Why would he told every officer to kill anyone who talked about the case?"_

_Add nodded to show that he understood what Raven was saying, "You're bored with life or something to tell me all this?"_

_"Same with you," Raven smiled at him, "Less 2 persons from the world to reveal the truth sounds worth, I guess. Except we died with no results, not that I care about it."_

_Add was about to walk away, but Raven told him another thing that stopped his step._

_"I just want to tell you that the defense attorney was presenting false evidence to frame Grace. The real one was on the Legendary Prosecutor's son, the thing that Elkashu is still trying to get rid of. That's why he can't kill his son."_

Bang!

* * *

The voice record stopped after that. Els stayed silent as he lowered his head. The 2 different colors in his eyes show that he's the son of Legendary Prosecutor.

"Elsword Sieghart, tell us thing you're hiding."

Els opened his shirt to reveal a burn scar on his back that showed a map with numbers on the bottom of it. "I don't know what my mom wrote there. It should be a map of the underground in our house where dad keeps the safe. The number should be the amount of money he stole that he keep in the safe but my mom changed the password and kept the evidence inside it because she knows she's going to get killed before she could present evidence," he explained as he lowered his head. He could feel his dad's anger.

The judge's eyes widened in surprise, "That's the right amount of corrupted money! Bring that safe here!"

Els wore his shirt after the officers done taking the note. While waiting for them to get the safe, he looked really troubled on his way to the waiting room.

"Thank goodness Elkashu isn't here. Sadly Elesis isn't here either," Chung sighed as he sat on a chair.

Rose lowered her body to face the troubled kid, "Els, what's wrong?"

"We... can't..." Els curled up in the corner, "We can't prove it."

They looked at Els' direction after the words that brought despair. "What do you mean? We're getting the evidence right now," Chung tilted his head.

Els stayed silent, tried to find a way to get the judge to believe in him, even though he's missing crucial evidence.

* * *

The safe was brought to the court. It was the same safe that got presented on the court 12 years ago, but no one could open it. They've seen the safe before.

"What now? We're repeating the same thing 12 years ago!" The defense yelled and slammed the table.

The safe required a password. There was a keyboard in it, so it can be literally anything. Els looked at it, a lot of thoughts were coming to his mind. He looked away from the safe, "v1sage322."

Rose pressed the word on the keyboard.

_Click!_

There were a lot of money in the safe and a transaction history of Elkashu's business. It was the evidence that they were searching for and it's finally in the court.

Elkashu was guilty as charged until the defense gave a laugh at it. "I have a question..."

"...are all of these real?"

Els' eyes widened and quickly lowered his head. "I know Add and that killer died, but did the conversation really happen? And you, Elsword," the defense stared at him, "How can we know that your mother really scarred your back? This transaction history is the same as Grace's, but different name."

Els shook his head. He knew he can prove anything but one thing; the fact that his mother left the code on his body. "I can't... I don't have evi—"

Someome slammed the door open. A black haired man with blood in his body was smiling in the court, "Playing dead isn't that hard."

Only few people were surprised with his appearance. Rose gasped and closed her mouth with her hands, "Raven, you're alive?!"

The judge looked angry. Raven raised his hand, "Hold up! I'll go back to jail later, but I have something to say here, correct?"

Before the judge let him say anything, he adjourned the court and required the medics to heal him first.

* * *

"Do you know how much I need to stop my body from twitching because of pain? It's actually hard!" Raven yelled at the two officers.

"The fact that you're alive is amazing already," Chung commented with a smile. He didn't know what to feel when a killer broke out of jail and saved them at the same time.

As a guy who didn't even care about living, Raven didn't know what to reply and shrugged, "That officer didn't make it. He got shot in the head."

Rose and Chung turned to silence. Raven sighed and looked at the kid, "What's troubling you?"

"I can't prove it," Els hugged his knees, "The evidence was there, but I can't tell them if it's real. He already duplicated the real one and changed it to Grace's name. I can't even prove the code on my body."

Raven blinked his eyes several times. "Alright. I don't get it, but I can prove something that you just said," he smirked.

* * *

When the court was back, Raven only presented a piece of paper he was hiding with blood stain in it, "It's a contract between Elkashu and me. As an exchange of taking someone's life, I required evidence. I did kill someone on the place Elsword was visiting and we proved that already. We can say this thing is real, no?"

The judge read the contract. It was written by Elkashu because of the handwriting, filled with the words that Elkashu did the corruption and hired assassin to kill the Legendary Prosecutor.

"I can make it simpler, Mr. Judge," Raven narrowed his eyes and smiled, "Why it took you so long to judge something obvious? Someone with a lot of money has you under control, right? We can agree that the evidence is already here. All officers are witness, including whoever shot the officer I was talking to last night."

The defense attorney sighed. He crossed his arms and looked down, "Elkashu duplicated the evidence to frame Grace and I used it 12 years ago. Can we get this over already?"

"I think we have another thing to solve as well," Rose walked to the middle and pointed Els, "Mind telling us about the abuse? I got the report from one of your friends, Ara."

Els shook his head with troubled look on his face. Raven chuckled as his reaction, "I heard about everything already. I can testify for you."

* * *

A lot of people associated with Elkashu got arrested, including Elesis and their mother. Raven got back to his jail after the court.

Ara and Ciel who came after they heard something happened to her were protesting. "She didn't do anything! Why did she get arrested?!" Ara yelled at anyone around her.

"Sis is an accessory. She knew about the abuse, but she didn't report it. She was confused on what to do," Els muttered as he looked away.

Rose walked toward them along with Rena. "I heard about it, Els. You can live with me for now," the teacher smiled and hugged him. She hugged the 2 graduated students as well.

Rose smiled at them. "It should be your first time living normally after a long time, Els. What are you going to do?"

Els shook his head. He didn't know what to do. Many things happened all of a sudden. "Why did Raven help us?" he asked an irrelevant question.

"Elkashu killed his fiancée for trying to report him," Rose smiled bitterly. So many people died because of him and it finally ended.

The boy smiled back, "About your question, I think I'm going to buy ice cream."

Els and Rena went away. Ara and Ciel were still in place. They didn't know what to do after their friend got arrested.

"I'm sure she wants us to take care of Els," Ciel muttered with a forced smile, "Should we get going?"

Ara nodded slightly. They went to their home and prepared for good days after the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I reduced my IQ for the last 3 years (or 2) XD  
> Sorry for so many faults in the story.


End file.
